Classic Poem

" What do you see in Vagg Hollow,
Little boy, when you go
In the morning at five on your lonely drive?"
" — I see men's souls, who follow
Till we've passed where the road lies low,
When they vanish at our creaking!

" They are like white faces speaking
Beside and behind the waggon —
One just as father's was when here.
The waggoner drinks from his flagon,
(Or he'd flinch when the Hollow is near)
But he does not give me any.

" Sometimes the faces are many;
But I walk along by the horses,
He asleep on the straw as we jog;
And I hear the loud water-courses,
And the drops from the trees in the fog,
And watch till the day is breaking,

" And the wind out by Tintinhull waking;
I hear in it father's call
As he called when I saw him dying,
And he sat by the fire last Fall,
And mother stood by sighing;
But I'm not afraid at all!"